Experience and Perception

(August 26, 1966)

It
is impossible not to believe what you see, but it is equally impossible
to see what you do NOT believe. Perceptions are built up on the basis of
experience, and experience leads to beliefs. It is not until BELIEFS are
fixed, that perceptions stabilize. In effect, then, what you believe you
DO see. That is what I meant when I said, "Blessed are ye who have not
seen and still believe," for those who believe in the Resurrection,
WILL see it. The Resurrection is the complete triumph of Christ over the
ego, not by attack, but by transcendence. For Christ DOES rise above the
ego and all its works, and ascends to the Father and HIS Kingdom.

Would
you join in the Resurrection or the Crucifixion? Would you condemn your
brothers, or free them? Would you transcend YOUR prison and ascend to
the Father? For these questions are all the same, and are answered
together. There has been much confusion about what perception means,
because the same word is used both for awareness, and for the
INTERPRETATION of awareness. But you cannot BE aware without
interpretation, and what you perceive IS your interpretation. This
course is perfectly clear. You do not see it clearly, because you are
interpreting AGAINST it, and therefore DO NOT BELIEVE IT. And if belief
determines perception, you do not perceive what it means, and therefore
do not ACCEPT it.

Yet
different experiences lead to different beliefs, and with them different
perceptions. For perceptions are learned WITH beliefs, and experience
teaches. I am leading you to a new kind of experience, which you will
become less and less willing to deny. Learning of Christ is easy, for to
perceive with Him involves no strain at all. HIS perceptions are your
NATURAL awareness, and it is only distortions that YOU introduce that
tire you. Let the Christ in you interpret FOR you, and do not try to
limit what you see by narrow little beliefs, which are unworthy of
God's Son. For until Christ comes into His Own, the Son of God will
see himself as Fatherless.

I
am YOUR Resurrection and YOUR life. You live in me, because you live in
God. And everyone lives in YOU, as YOU live in everyone. Can you then
perceive unworthiness in a brother, and NOT perceive it in yourself? And
can you perceive it in yourself, and NOT perceive it in God? Believe in
the Resurrection because it has BEEN accomplished, and IT HAS BEEN
ACCOMPLISHED IN YOU. This is as true now as it will ever be, for the
resurrection is the Will of God, Which knows no time and no exceptions.
But make no exceptions yourself, or you will not perceive what has been
accomplished FOR you. For we ascend unto the Father together, as it was
in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, for such is the nature of
God's Son, as His Father created him.

(August 31, 1966)

Do
not underestimate the power of the devotion of God's Son, nor the
power of the god he worships over him. For he places HIMSELF at the
altar of his god, whether it be the god HE made, or the God who created
HIM. That is why his slavery is as complete as his freedom, for he will
obey ONLY the god he accepts. The god of the crucifixion demands that he
crucify, and his worshippers obey. In his name, they crucify THEMSELVES,
believing that the power of the Son of God is born of sacrifice and
pain. The God of the Resurrection demands nothing, for He does not will
to TAKE AWAY. He does not require obedience, for obedience implies
submission. He would only have you learn your OWN will and follow it,
not in the spirit of sacrifice and submission, but in the gladness of
freedom.

Resurrection
must compel your allegiance gladly because it is the symbol of joy. Its
whole compelling power lies in the fact that it represents what YOU want
to be. The freedom to leave behind everything that hurts you, and
humbles you, and frightens you, cannot be thrust upon you. But it CAN be
offered you through the Grace of God. And you can ACCEPT it BY His
Grace, for God IS gracious to His Son, accepting him without question as
His own. Who, then, is YOUR own? The Father has given you all that is
His, and He Himself is yours WITH them. Guard them in their
Resurrection, for otherwise you will not awake in God, safely surrounded
by what is yours forever.

You
will not find peace until you have removed the nail from the hands of
God's Son, and taken the last thorn from his forehead. The Love of God
surrounds His Son, whom the god of the crucifixion condemns. Teach not
that I died in vain. Teach rather THAT I DID NOT DIE by demonstrating
that I LIVE IN YOU. For the UNDOING of the crucifixion of God's Son is
the work of the Redemption, in which everyone has a part of equal value.
God does not judge His blameless Son. Having given HIMSELF to him, how
could it be otherwise?

You
have nailed YOURSELF to a cross, and placed a crown of thorns upon your
own head. Yet you CANNOT crucify God's Son, for the will of God cannot
die. His Son HAS BEEN redeemed from his own crucifixion, and you cannot
assign to death whom God has given Eternal Life. The dream of
crucifixion still lies heavy on your eyes, but what you see in dreams is
not reality. While you perceive the Son of God as crucified, you are
asleep. And as long as you believe that YOU can crucify him, you are
only having nightmares. You who are beginning to wake are still aware of
dreams, and have not yet forgotten them.

Forgetting
of dreams and the awareness of Christ comes with the awakening of others
to SHARE your redemption. You will awaken to your own call, for the call
to awake is WITHIN you. If I live in you, you ARE awake. But YOU must
see the works I do through you, or you will not perceive that I have
done them unto YOU. Do not set limits on what you believe I can do
THROUGH you, or you will not accept what I can do FOR you. For it is
done ALREADY, and unless you give ALL that you have received, you will
not know that your Redeemer liveth, and that YOU have awakened WITH Him.
Redemption is recognized ONLY by sharing it.

God's
Son IS saved. Bring only THIS awareness to the Sonship, and you will
have a part in the Redemption as valuable as mine. For your part must be
LIKE mine, if you learn it of me. If you believe that YOURS is limited,
YOU ARE LIMITING MINE. There is no order of difficulty in miracles,
because all of God's Sons are of equal value, and their equality IS
their Oneness. The whole power of God is in every part of Him, and
nothing contradictory to His will is either great or small. What does
not exist HAS no size and no measure. To God ALL things are possible.
And to Christ it is given to be like the Father.